You've identified what's great about your start-up, you are organized and ready to recruit. How are you going to land your next great hire? In Part II of this two-part guest blog post, Catapult corporate sponsor EmPowerHR will tell you how!

Part II – Search and Discern: stepping up your recruiting and interviewing game.

4) Recruit the best - You’ve done your homework and figured out what the desired skills and personality for your open position are. So what’s the best way to reach your target audience? To start, a little creativity and persistence go a long way. Write a job advertisement that stands out in the crowd. The job board scene can be a little tired and out of date, but still a good place to market your opportunity. A more cost effective alternative is using social media to let people know you are hiring. An effective social media strategy involves forethought and active building of your follower base. Focus on whatever social media outlet is best for your organization and follow companies that employ the type of talent you seek. Still one of the best methods is old fashioned networking. Think of someone in your network that might be able lead you to your target. Get on the phone with him or her and ask them to help you locate someone they would recommend. Finally, there’s your own organization. You might be surprised at how willing your employees will be to further the cause. We’ll take a deeper look at this approach in step 6.

5) Interview like a champ – In addition to discussing relevant skills and experiences, a good interview gets at the behavior, competencies and desires of the candidate. Creating interview questions with your company’s core values in mind will help uncover if the candidate is a good culture fit. You’ll also want to avoid certain types of questions that are risky, and unlawful. Avoid questions around age, health and disability, race, national origin, religion, marital status, military membership, genetic information and sexual orientation. Be consistent with the questions you ask from candidate to candidate and ask behavior-based questions that are open-ended and promote explanation. A helpful acronym to use when listening to answers is EAR: the EVENT, the ACTION and the RESULTS. Continue questions until you get all three parts, for example - ''what happened then? ''what was the outcome?'' and “how did that work for you?'' If you plan for an interview with these things in mind, better candidates will make it through to the next phase of your hiring process.

6) Turn your employees into a referral machine – You can have the tightest interview process in the world, but it won’t yield much without the right candidates. Chances are your current staff will know and associate with people that are similar to them or share similar values. Each of your employees personal networks are resources for procuring talent. To tap into these sources, establish a clear rewards system that engages your employees and gives them an active role in building your company. In addition to helping you find better talent, this let’s your employees know you value them. The right rewards program will inspire company pride and turn your employees into ambassadors for your company. Plus, they’re more likely to refer people they trust and respect because great that referral will be a reflection of them!

Thanks again EmPowerHR for this important information! If you missed Part I - The Process: know who you are and get organized, read it here.For more info from Catapult corporate sponsor EmPowerHR, check out their website here